My heart hath been a storehouse long of things 105 110 All his great work to come before him set; His end of being on earth, and mission high : Had left him vacant, and with speed was gone 103. My heart hath been a storehouse long of things And sayings laid up,Thus Mary pond'ring oft,] Luke ii. 19. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart and again, ver. 51. but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. 110. with holiest meditations fed,] An expression very significant, and the same with that in Paradise Lost, iii. 37. Then feed on thoughts &c. Thyer. 111. Into himself descended,] In sese descendere. Persius, sat. iv. 23. 115. with sly preface to return] Alluding to what Satan had said i. 483. -permit me 115 To hear thee when I come, &c. Satan's concluding speech at their first meeting was a preface to their meeting again. 119. There without sign of boast, &c.] In contrast to the boasting manner in which Satan had related his success against man, on his return to Pandamonium. P. L. x. 460. Solicitous. This word seems here used under a recollection of Cicero's definition of Solicitudo, ægritudo cum cogitatione. Tusc. Quæst. iv. 8. Solicitous and blank. Thus, P. L. ix. 888. -Adam Dunster. Solicitous and blank he thus began. Princes, heav'n's ancient sons, ethereal thrones, Demonian spirits now from th' element It was a notion among the ancients, especially among the Platonists, that there were Demons in each element, some visible, others invisible, in the æther, and fire, and air, and water, so that no part of the world was devoid of soul: εισι δε και αλλοι δαίμονες, οὓς και καλοίη αν τις γεννητους θεους, καθ ̓ ἑκαστον των στοιχείων, οἱ μὲν ὁρατοι, οἱ δε αόρατοι, εν τε αιθερι, και πυρί, αερι τε, και ύδατι, ὡς μηδεν κοσμου μερος ψυχής αμοιρον uva, as Alcinous in his summary of the Platonic doctrine says, cap. 5. Michael Psellus, in his dialogue concerning the operation of Demons, from whence Milton borrowed some of his notions of spirits, (as we observed in a note upon the Paradise Lost, i. 423.) speaks to the same purpose, that there are many kinds of Demons, and of all sorts of forms and bodies, so that the air above us and around us is full, the earth and the sea are full, and the inmost and deepest recesses: woda daspory γενη, και παντοδαπα τας ιδεας και τα σώματα ὡς είναι πλήρη μεν τον αέρα, τον τε ὑπερθεν ήμων και τον περι ήμας πληρη δε γαιαν και θαλατταν, και τους μυχαίτατους και βυδιους [βυθιους] TOTOUS, p. 41. and he divides them into six kinds, the fiery, the airy, the earthy, the watery, the subterraneous, and the luci 120 fugous: το διαπυρον, το αέριον, το χθόνιον, το ύδραιον τε και εναλίον, το ὑποχθόνιον, το μισοφαες και δυσαισθηTov. p. 45. Edit. Lutet. Paris, 1615. But the Demons not only resided in the elements, and partook of their nature, but also presided and ruled over them, as Jupiter in the air, Vulcan in the fire, Neptune in the water, Cybele in the earth, and Pluto under the earth. 122. Thus in Il Penseroso, 93. And of those Demons that are found Undoubtedly these notions are from Plato's Timæus and Phædon, and the reveries of his old commentators; yet with some reference to the Gothic system of Demons, which is a mixture of Platonism, school-divinity, and Christian superstition. See "the six sorts of spirits between heaven and hell," their control over the elements in which they respectively resided, &c. described in the Spanish Mandevile of Myracles &c. a translation from the Spanish, Lond. 1618. disc. iii. p. 126. 4to. It is one of the visions of Thomas Aquinas, that God permitted some of the fallen angels, less guilty than the rest, in their descent from heaven, to remain in the air, fre, water, and earth till the day of judgment. Drayton has the same doctrine, Polyolb. s. v. vol. ii. p. 757. And Milton conforms to Each of his reign allotted, rightlier call'd Pow'rs of fire, air, water, and earth beneath, So may we hold our place, and these mild seats. Is risen to invade us, who no less Threatens than our expulsion down to hell; I, as I undertook, and with the vote Consenting in full frequence was impower'd, 125 130 this theory in this passage, and he promises to assist the Saracens in b. i. 39, 44. b. iv. 201. Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the earth, &c. In Andreini's Adamo, written in 1617, we have a chorus" di Spiriti ignei, aerei, acquatici, ed infernali, &c." being the exiled angels. These are the Demons to which Shakespeare alludes, Hamlet, a. i. s. 1. -At his warning, Th' extravagant and erring spirit hies When formally invoked by a magician, they were supposed to produce tempests, conflagrations, floods, and earthquakes. Of this school was therefore Prospero in the Tempest, a. iv. s. 1. Shakespeare has other instances, King John, a. iii. s. 2. First part of Hen. VI. a. v. s. 4. See also Boyardo's Orlando Inamorato, l. i. c. i. 51. And Tasso's Gier. Lib. c. xiii. 7, 11. The spirits which the necromancer Ismeno invokes to take possession of the enchanted forest, are fallen angels, who now control the different elements which they inhabit. And, c. ii. 4. the demons with which are fallen angels. See also Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, a. iv. s. 1. and Fair Maid of the Inn, a. iv. s. 1. I must add, that the notion of the fallen angels having a control of the elements, seems to have suggested to Milton the idea in Par. Lost, vi. 221. that angels in their state of bliss had the same power. T. Warton. 129. and with the vote In reference to what was said, b. i. 111. Unanimous they all commit &c. 130. in full frequence] Milton, in his History of England, has said, The assembly was full and frequent and in Paradise Lost, i. 797. the council of devils was frequent and full. Here the adjective is converted into a substantive, and in i. 128: and Shakespeare uses it in the same manner, Timon, act v. sc. 3. Tell Athens in the frequence of degree. From high to low throughout. 131.-tasted him,] A Græcism. гsvua signifies not only gusto, Far other labour to be undergone Than when I dealt with Adam first of men, If he be man by mother's side at least, With more than human gifts from heav'n adorn'd, And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds. but likewise experior, periculum facio. Dunster. 136. If he be man by mother's side at least,] The Tempter had no doubt of Christ's being a man by the mother's side: but the want of a comma in its due place after man, hath puzzled both the sense and the construction. He is must be understood at the end of the verse, to support the syntax. If he be man, by mother's side at We have still preserved the If he be man by mother's side at least. And it is the purport of Satan in this speech not to say any thing to the evil spirits that may lessen, but every thing that may raise their idea of his antagonist. 136. Mr. Dunster agrees with Dr. Newton as to the sense of the passage; but conceives and 135 I must think with great justice, However to this man inferior far; With more than human gifts adorn'd, E. 139. And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.] There is a great deal of dignity as well as significancy in this expression, and none certainly could have been better selected to express the idea which the poet intended to convey. He borrowed it very probably from the following passage in Tully's Tusc. Disp. ii. 25. Hoc igitur tibi propone, amplitudinem et quasi quandam exaggerationem quam altissimam animi, quæ maxime eminet contemnendis et despiciendis doloribus, unam esse omnium rem Milton had a pulcherrimam. very happy talent in the choice of words, and indeed it is a very considerable part of the poet's art. Let the reader but try to substitute any other word of the same signification in the place of amplitude in this verse, and he will soon be convinced, that none can be found to fill it up Therefore I am return'd, lest confidence Of my success with Eve in Paradise Deceive ye to persuasion over-sure Of like succeeding here; I summon, all Or council to assist; lest I who erst The sensuallest, and after Asmodai with equal beauty and propriety. 140. lest confidence 140 145 150 true, they do not run very smoothly off the tongue, but then they are with much better Of my success with Eve in Pa- judgment so contrived, that the radise reader is obliged to lay a particular emphasis, and to dwell as it were for some time that upon word in each verse which most strongly expresses the character described, viz. dissolutest, sensuallest, fleshliest. This has a very good effect by impressing the idea more strongly upon the mind, and contributes even in some measure to increase our aversion to the odious character of Belial by giving an air of detestation to the very tone of voice with which these verses must necessarily be read. Thyer. 153. Set women in his eye, &c.] As this temptation is not mentioned, nor any hint given of it in the Gospels, it could not so well have been proposed to our Saviour, it is much more fitly |